President's trip to Iraq was good for troop morale
Published December 2, 2003
Re: President Bush's visit to Iraq.
I agree with many of the positions the Bush administration takes and disagree with others, but the trip our president took to Iraq was the right thing to do. The president's Thanksgiving trip to Iraq is a positive morale boost to the troops that only one who has been in harm's way can fully understand. Perhaps his trip will have a major positive influence other issues.
Having spent considerable time in a foxhole, I understand what the trip meant to America's fighting forces. Our troops see the incompetent planning and lack of understanding in dealing with the situation after the combat mission was won in Iraq. They wonder, will this be another winning of the battle but losing the war? While all the talking heads in Washington take meaningless shots at all quarters, the troops are left in harm's way, being killed in a sort of holding pattern while some politicians use them as fodder for their political gain and bureaucrats try to figure out how to build a nation.
The president's presence with the troops was a measure of confidence-building needed for those in harm's way.
President Bush's decision to visit the troops, as positive as it was, points up a dichotomy that has been a thorn in the side of thousands of military retirees. Why does the president make promising speeches, visit troops, laud our military, clearly demonstrate outward compassion for our troops, and on the other hand, allow his administration to oppose earned medical care for military retirees, limit funds to veterans, allow his staff to initiate programs that would reduce combat benefits, and other actions that seem in opposition to his stated, verbal positions?
When the president makes a statement, it's "promises made will be promises kept." Then his staff actively uses the full force of government to oppose promises made to military retirees, and the dichotomy raises its ugly head. Is the president sincere or is he just being another politician with meaningless words?
I think President Bush has a special place in his heart for warriors and believe the trip to Iraq for Thanksgiving is a true example of his commitment, not only to our troops but our nation. It is also an example of leadership, bold decisionmaking, a decisive trait we need our president to aggressively pursue.
-- Harry G. Riley, colonel, U.S. Army, retired, Crestview
Transparent tactics
Well, George has done it again. I wonder if he thinks he is fooling the public to think he has compassion for his troops in Iraq. First there was George playing cowboy, landing on an aircraft carrier and strutting with helmet in hand. Then there was this sham for Medicare. Does he think people do not have enough sense to figure this one out?
But the worst was the media-op in Iraq. That really did it for me. I wonder if he felt the fear and apprehension of our boys who were being killed and maimed while he was taking a photo with a turkey. What do you bet he brings what is left of our troops home right before election. Hope you folks can see through this. God help us if he is re-elected in 2004.
-- Lucille Brim, Largo
Who are the real leaders?
After sneaking in and out of Baghdad like a burglar in the middle of the night, our president posed for news cameras while serving food for a few minutes to coalition forces eating in one of the most heavily fortified buildings in Iraq. He stopped to talk with a few hand-picked Iraqis, spoke with his hunkered down coalition leaders, and posed for more pictures.
Bush then dashed through the darkness with Condoleezza Rice to his blacked-out presidential aircraft, and headed back to the ranch, his two-hour touchdown in Iraq ended.
The media trumpet the clandestine and hurried visit as proof of Bush's leadership: "Bush's Iraq trip cements role as leader," gushes a network.
One day later, two Democratic senators, Hillary Clinton and Jack Reed, spent hours in Kirkuk and other areas of the war-torn country. They talked with Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites as well as with American troops and ordinary people. While Bush swoops away in the night, Reed and Clinton walk the streets of Baghdad and other cities. Tell me again. Who are the real leaders?
-- Ron Teunis, Brooksville
Support our president and our troops
I am utterly amazed at the shallowness of patriotism in our country. We were plunged into war on Sept. 11, 2001, and the support and flag-waving were everywhere. When the United Nations failed to support its own resolution, we went into battle against terrorism with great success. Our military forces entered Iraq and toppled one of the most heinous and murderous regimes in history, with a very low sacrifice of lives.
Recently, support has begun to slip. Instead of supporting our efforts to build a free and democratic country in this part of the world, certain politicians and the liberal news media, with their doom and gloom remarks, are causing the American people to lose their resolve, which will provide aid and support for our enemies and hamper the rebuilding efforts.
In the fight against terrorism, some of our elected leaders in Congress need to put the security of America and the free world ahead of their personal political desires and give support to our military and to our commander in chief, George W. Bush.
-- Norman R. Dunn Sr., Jacksonville
Hillary's boat didn't float
Hillary Clinton visited the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq for one reason only - to test the water to see how the troops feel about her before she marches on to try to become president of the United States. In the TV news clips, she was clinging to the hands of soldiers trying to position herself for photos with them. Her head was bobbing right and left trying to get just the right pose.
The military put Hillary in her place by showing no interest in her or what she had to say. She couldn't resist taking jabs at President Bush, knowing that she was on his turf because of the deep respect the military has for the commander in chief. Her boat didn't even float - it sank to the bottom.
God bless our military for protecting our country, and I pray they have a safe return.
-- Betty Dobson, Brooksville
Timing is everything
It would be interesting to know when the Bush administration learned that Hillary Clinton was planning a Thanksgiving trip to Afghanistan and Iraq.
-- Julie Hathaway, Tierra Verde
Another photo-op
Re: Bush visits Iraq.
How nice. Another photo opportunity for the president seemingly concerned for the well-being of our troops in Iraq. I wonder if any of those brave soldiers even had the opportunity to ask this self-serving, oil-hungry excuse for a leader what the heck they are doing there in the first place.
Maybe if his daughters Barbara or Jenna were in the military he wouldn't have been so quick to drag our nation's youth to this mess he created.
-- Aileen Kremer, Gulfport
The question of cost
I'm just curious. I wonder how much President Bush's re-election photo-op stunt in Baghdad cost us taxpayers?
-- Elaine Coffin, So. Pasadena
Proud of the president
I can't believe I am saying this, for I am as far from a Republican as you can be. But I am pleased and, yes, proud that my president made a secret trip to Iraq and back again on Thanksgiving Day. I'm sure it meant a lot to our servicemen and women, even to those who were not in that area and did not actually see him. It meant something to me.
Was it political? Of course it was. Everything is political. Does this mean I will vote for him now? No, of course not.
-- Doris Whelan, St. Petersburg
We have to win in Iraq
Re: More troops needed to succeed in Iraq, by Sen. John McCain, Nov. 11.
Iraq is not Vietnam, Sen. John McCain stated. Our opponents in Iraq are numbered in the thousands, he added. Yet, he wanted more troops to be sent to Iraq. If 130,000 thousand American troops and an additional number of Iraqi and coalition troops were not sufficient to combat a few thousand of our opponents, the problem must be elsewhere, not in the size of the armed forces.
Sen. McCain contended that Iraqi insurgents don't enjoy the kind of sanctuaries the Vietamese had. I don't know what kind of sanctuaries Iraq has, but it is providing a place for Saddam Hussein and his cohorts to hide safely, at least for now.
Sen. McCain asserted that Saddam Hussein couldn't inspire the Iraqi people as Ho Chi Minh did with the Vietnamese. That could be true, but we have seen that whoever or whatever inspired the 19 zealous "suiciders" of the 9/11 tragedy, the result was terribly devastating to us, emotionally and financially.
We have to win in Iraq, but misperceptions will certainly not help us win there. The Iraqis know their people better than we do. Let them do the job, and in their own way. If they say a constitution is not a priority, they may be right. What is a constitution good for in time of chaos? If they say a plant can be restored to a working condition at a cost of $250,000, don't force them to accept a state-of-the art renovation at a cost of $23-million.
By the same token, if an Iraqi used to earn $30 per month, don't pay him $300. We will make the cost of living skyrocket and create a discontent in the have-nots.
The people who truly have the support of the masses will not listen to us. We have to listen to them.
-- Andy T. Pham, Dunnellon
A valiant bird remembered
Re: Admirers mourn decline of storied DC-3, Nov. 28.
I read your article about the DC-3 with great interest. So little was mentioned about this fine aircraft's role in World War II, that I would like add some history.
The DC-3 was used as a transport plane in World War II. It was designated the C-47 and was used by the Troop Carrier Command to carry parachutists and to tow gliders on invasions. In the summer of 1942, commercial DC-3s were flown to Bowman Field, Ky., stripped of their seats, painted olive drab and sent off to war. Many of their pilots had flown commercially and, they too, went to war.
I think of this "work horse" with affection and can still recall the sounds and smells of this valiant bird.
-- Bob Sproul, St. Petersburg
The storied DC-3
Re: Admirers mourn decline of storied DC-3.
-- Bill Adair's story on the DC-3 brings to mind a most appropriate assertion that appeared in another of the many stories about this most remarkable airplane:
"When the last of today's jet airliners is ferried to the graveyard for retired airliners, it will be a DC-3 that goes to pick up the crew!"
-- Donald Barnhill, Trinity
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